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Tribute to Baron von Trapp Joined by Country He Fled

On a hilltop ringed by the blue-tinged Green Mountains here, the von Trapp family and the Government of Austria today officially mended a relationship put asunder 60 years ago by the Nazi invasion of Austria.

The occasion was a visit by 89 cadets of the graduating class of the Theresianum Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt, about 25 miles south of Vienna. Three years ago, they chose as their class patron Baron Georg von Trapp, the family patriarch, who fled Austria because of his opposition to its Nazi occupiers. To honor him, the cadets accepted an invitation from the family and traveled en masse to spend the weekend at the Trapp Family Lodge here.

The ceremonies ended today in a morning Mass, at which the cadets stood watch during a performance of Franz Schubert's ''German Mass,'' then laid a wreath at the grave of Baron and Baroness von Trapp, who were portrayed by Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews in the 1965 film ''The Sound of Music.''

Nearly 50 people representing three generations of von Trapps from around the world gathered for the ceremony. The six surviving children are Eleonore Campbell, Rosmarie Trapp and Maria, Werner, Johannes and Agathe von Trapp, all of whom live in the United States.

''This is an important statement on the part of these Austrian officers that they chose as their patron someone who left Austria during the Nazi invasion,'' said Johannes von Trapp, 58, of Stowe, the youngest of the famous singing children who toured Europe and, later, the United States as a family musical act.

''This is the fulfilling of a wish,'' said Maria von Trapp, 83, of Stowe.

Walter Greinert, the Consul General of Austria based in New York, agreed. ''On the one side, I am here to express our appreciation of the fact that the von Trapp family always stood for patriotism and righteousness,'' Mr. Greinert said. ''On the other side, I am here as a representative of a new Austria in a new Europe. We are a new generation now, putting behind us some of the troubles of the past.''

Because of the movie, many Americans are aware of some basic biographical facts: Maria Augusta Kutschera left a convent to become the von Trapp family's governess (in fact, she left the convent to care for Maria, the daughter, who was an invalid at the time), and she later married the Baron. The von Trapp family fled Austria in 1938 to escape the Nazis, and they eventually immigrated to the United States.

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In 1942, the Baron and his wife bought a farm in Stowe and built the lodge, which burned in 1980 and was rebuilt. Some family members have continued to run the lodge as an inn and ski resort.

For the most part, the weekend events focused on Georg von Trapp's military career. A 1898 graduate of the Austrian Imperial Naval Academy, he commanded a submarine during World War I and was influential in the development of submarine warfare and torpedoes. ''He was seen as a hero for his work as a submarine commander,'' said Saurugg Herbert, an Austrian cadet.

Johannes von Trapp said that his father, who died 50 years ago, was offered a position in the German Navy after the invasion of Austria. The Baron strenuously objected to the Nazis, so he refused, Mr. von Trapp said.

The touchiest issue of the weekend involved the attitude of the Austrian Government toward the family after its flight and whether this ceremony was to be understood as an official apology to the family.

''It was politically significant that they chose a man most well-known for his opposition to the Nazis,'' said Mr. von Trapp.

''The view of the von Trapps was always one of appreciation,'' said Mr. Greinert. ''Most Austrians agreed with his attitude, and there was never any official criticism of his decision.'' But he added, '' 'The 'Sound of Music' was not shown in Austria for many years, and the fact that I am here now represents the change in the government and the people of Austria.''